Home Instead Chichester is the only West Sussex community care service rated Outstanding in all five CQC areas. Its scores, and what inspectors found.
A home care agency based at Westhampnett has been rated Outstanding in every area the Care Quality Commission looks at. Home Instead Chichester & Bognor Regis is the only community care service in West Sussex to hold that rating in all five.
The CQC published its report on 23 September. Inspectors assessed the agency between 18 June and 20 July 2026. At the time it was providing personal care to 61 people in their own homes.
The ratings
The CQC rates five areas, or “key questions”. The agency is Outstanding in all of them:
| Area | Rating | CQC score |
|---|---|---|
| Safe | Outstanding | 91 out of 100 |
| Effective | Outstanding | 92 out of 100 |
| Caring | Outstanding | 100 out of 100 |
| Responsive | Outstanding | 96 out of 100 |
| Well-led | Outstanding | 100 out of 100 |
The scores are on the CQC’s pages for each area. Safe is the one that moved. At the last inspection, in November 2017, the agency was rated Outstanding overall but Good for safety. The new Safe report says the rating “has changed to outstanding”.
How rare it is
The agency says it is the only CQC-rated home care service in West Sussex with Outstanding in all five areas. We checked that against the CQC’s own data.
The CQC’s latest ratings file, dated 1 October 2026, lists 177 community-based adult social care services in West Sussex. The category covers home care agencies and other services that support people outside care homes. Of those services:
- 5 are rated Outstanding overall
- 149 are rated Good
- 13 Require improvement
- 10 have not yet been rated
Of the five Outstanding services, only Home Instead Chichester & Bognor Regis is Outstanding for Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. The other four are Good in at least one area.
What the inspectors found
The report says the agency showed “exceptional and distinctive practice across all areas of care and support”. Among the things it singled out:
- Cloud Nine, the agency’s scheme to help people fulfil personal wishes. The report’s examples include flying on a plane, visiting a zoo and going back to the theatre.
- Support to stay independent, including helping people travel on public transport on their own and keep control of their own medicines.
- End-of-life care that helped people stay at home, “often overcoming barriers within wider systems”.
- Early warning of illness. Staff spotted signs such as urinary infections or a rising risk of falls and brought in health professionals quickly.
- Community work, including dementia-friendly projects, local end-of-life networks and efforts to reduce isolation among older people.
People and relatives were “overwhelmingly positive”, the report says. One relative told the inspectors that the carers “go above and beyond what they have to do.”
The report is not uncritical. “A small number of relatives” raised occasional problems: inconsistent carers, delays with some tasks, and worries about staff using a moving and handling aid. The CQC says those concerns were reported and acted on.
What the agency says
The agency is run by West Sussex Care Limited from Madgwick Lane, Westhampnett. Its owner, Simon McGee, said in the agency’s announcement that the result was “a wonderful recognition of our Care Professionals and the wider team behind them”.
What it means for you
- If you are choosing home care for a relative, every agency’s current rating and full report is free on the CQC website. Read the report, not just the headline rating, and check the date: some ratings in West Sussex are several years old.
- If an agency’s rating is old, the CQC page shows when it was last inspected. You can ask the agency what has changed since.
- If you have a concern about any care service, you can tell the CQC. It uses that feedback to decide where to inspect.
Have your say